States and some organisations have expressed their views about the utility, purpose, scope and process of the legal review of weapons in various different contexts. Some of these views have been recorded domestic documents, such as military manuals on the law of armed conflict. Increasingly, however, States and organisations have articulated their positions in a range of international fora, either through written submissions or oral interventions.
This database compiles and organises publicly expressed views in relation to legal reviews, without prejudice to their relative significance or effect (for example, in terms of the development of customary international law). The database aims to comprehensively reflect the views of states but only covers the positions of a small number of selected organisations.
This database currently contains 379 positions and is continuously updated. Any corrections, or suggestions to add material, are welcome.
2018
Statement by the ICRC
The ICRC welcomes attention that this issue has brought to developing and improving legal review processes. The ICRC calls on all States to establish a weapon review mechanism or consider strengthening existing mechanisms to ensure that any new weapons that are developed and acquired can …
Statement by the ICRC
The ICRC welcomes efforts to improve implementation of IHL, including through enhancing mechanisms to review the legality of new weapons. Conducting legal reviews of weapon systems with autonomy in their critical functions can raise challenges, in particular regarding standards of predictability and reliability. The ICRC …
Ethics and autonomous weapon systems: An ethical basis for human control?
From a legal perspective, when considering the obligation of States to review new weapons before their deployment and use under Article 36 of [AP I], it is difficult to see how a weapon system that autonomously changes its own functioning could ever be approved, since …